Romeo + Juliet review: Heartstopper star Kit Connor shines in hollow Broadway show

Two hours, with one intermission.At the Circle in the Square Theatre, 235 West 50th Street.

Through February 16.Over on 43rd Street, the Broadway musical comedy “& Juliet” has been running for two years. And on Thursday night, seven blocks away at Circle in the Square Theatre opened its companion piece — “Romeo &.”OK, director Sam Gold’s, nntz-nntz, party-hardy production of William Shakespeare’s tragedy is actually called “Romeo + Juliet,” swiping the youthful “+” from Baz Luhrmann’s 1996 movie starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes. Ampersand, schmampersand.But, without question, Kit Connor’s Romeo is the sole reason to get thee to the theater.What an impressive, heart-stopping Broadway debut from the young British star of Netflix’s “Heartstopper.”Any staging of this play worth its salt forces the audience, for a time anyway, to buy into the star-crossed lovers’ ill-fated romance. That they are naive teens, their hormonal friends are killing each other over an ancient family feud and the story is set over a whirlwind five days, always makes the effort an uphill battle. Connor’s soft touch, generosity of spirit and easy facility with the classical language is why we almost rally around the pair. His YA, good-listener persona is a sublime contrast to the violent world his character inhabits.

And he’s one of the only performers onstage who takes full advantage of the relatively intimate, in-the-round space, profoundly connecting with other performers and close-quarters theatergoers.During one scene, Connor politely — frantically — begs an audience member to borrow their chair.The move would be a capital-G gimmick were he not so endearing and spontaneous while he does it.On the balcony, though, his co-star Rachel Zegler begs the question: Wherefore art thou Juliet? On its surface, her casting makes sense.

After all, she played Maria, Midtown West’s very own Juliet, in Steven Spielberg’s “West Side S...